Make Paris your own

If you've ever dreamt of serving up the perfect French dinner for friends, then, says Sarah Hanson, get along to Eat Drink Talk

Have you always thought of French cooking as difficult? Bah! I am now the master of six dishes to challenge the snobbiest Parisian, thanks to an evening at Eat Drink Talk, a cookery school run by Jennifer Klinec in London's trendy Clerkenwell. I attended a class called "Approachable Parisian Bistro Fare", which is designed to make cooking French food simple. Sat around Klinec's kitchen table, the classes are relaxed and fun—helped along with an ice-breaking Bellini that we made ourselves with a rose syrup—quite unusual but surprisingly pleasant.

Sipping our well-earned drinks (well I'd had a hard day at the office), we prepared our first course—a deliciously creamy goat's cheese, pressed in toasted hazelnuts, baked and served with a salad of mesclun greens. One of Jennifer's tricks (and a very wise one it is, too) is to feed the class as soon as possible—otherwise they're "lost for the whole evening", apparently. The classes are a mix of hands-on and demonstration—as although the maximum class size is ten, there is not room for everyone to cook on the one set of rings available.

You are advised to turn up for the evening with an appetite, and it soon becomes apparent why. In between courses, Klinec invited us to do some tastings. First, walnut and hazelnut oils (of which the latter would later be used in the most delicious salad dressing); and then three different sourdough breads. Having worked with food specialists from around the world including Canada, the US, Japan, Australia, Italy, France and Monaco, Jennifer's knowledge of food and suppliers is extensive and the evening was peppered with useful hints, suggestions and favourite artisans.

For our main course, we ate braised oxtail in red wine. It's the perfect dish for feeding lots of people and is remarkably easy to prepare. Klinec explained all the different cuts of meats and gave us useful tips on how to turn the cheapest cuts into fabulous dishes. But it's not just the fact these cuts of meat are inexpensive and therefore great for feeding crowds; because they are on the bone, they are also the most tasty.

By the time it came to pudding, I was nearly ready to roll out the door and as I tucked into the scrumptious plum and cinnamon clafouti, served with home made vanilla ice-cream, I promised myself I'd be good for the rest of the week. But come the weekend I'll be off to the local market to stock up on all I need to start practicing the recipes—I'm determined to impress my French friends when they come over in the summer.